Alcohol is a long-standing problem in Slovakia, which is directly related to suicides, fatalities and family tragedies. At the same time, according to the World Health Organisation, the situation deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pandemic years, alcohol consumption has risen worldwide, but Slovakia, with a consumption of 11.1 litres per capita, has skipped not only the European average, but almost twice the world average. The Dry February campaign, which raises the issue of alcohol abuse, is also taking off on Slovenka today.
For these reasons, too, as Minister for Health, I decided to express my support for the Dry February awareness campaign. Her goal is not to stop people from drinking alcohol altogether, but to check if they really know where their measure is. There are more than 400 thousand people at risk in Slovakia. How is it easier to know that people know where they are when they consume alcohol? For example, by completely leaving alcohol out of their lives for a month, said Minister of Health Vladimir Lengvarský.
As present informed Ľubomír Okruhlica, the chief health expert at the Department of Drug Addiction Medicine and the director of the Bratislava Center for the Treatment of Drug Addiction, according to the hepatologists is the high mortality rate of Slovaks of working age right on liver cirrhosis. According to WHO, alcoholism is the most common cause of cirrhosis, up to 80 percent.
Thus, more than 1,000 Slovaks die every year from liver failure caused by early untreated alcoholism. According to the National Health Information Centre, 27 thousand patients are also treated annually for alcoholism. The vast majority of them also have hepatic impairment. add a circle.
Alcohol, however, does not only destroy the body shell, it also interferes with the psyche of man. In 2021, 548 suicides were recorded in our territory, of which about a third was performed in the presence of alcohol or addictive (psychotropic) substance. In psychiatric clinics, more than 27 thousand people were also investigated last year for psychotic and alcohol-induced disorders.
Alcoholism is still increasingly affecting men, although the number of women addicted to alcohol is increasing in cities. The number of hospitalisations for men is approximately 3-fold higher than the number of hospitalisations for women, according to NCZI data. Alcohol is legal and easily accessible, and even though it is mostly subject to people aged between 30 and 40 and older, it is thanks to its availability that it is also a problem for the younger generation. Róbert Babeľa, State Secretary for Health.
That is also what it is like to find out if you already drink alcohol and if you decide to stop drinking or to stop drinking. If you have answered these two questions, you may have a serious problem with alcohol. In this case we recommend contacting your general doctor or visiting some of the specialized centres for addiction treatment.
